


Hello, Goodbye (or “how everyone fails to explain that they’re going time travelling”)

by RedHead



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Includes the end of Legends Season 1, Not Beta Read, Snippets, basically the moments of conversation that happened in between, team fic, the decisions to go and not go, was supposed to be funny but then just mostly turned introspective instead, with some feels toward the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-27
Updated: 2016-10-27
Packaged: 2018-08-27 07:01:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8391811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedHead/pseuds/RedHead
Summary: Eight people have just been invited to travel through time and space and none of them is taking it halfway seriously.





	

 

 

Kendra and Carter argue all night about going. They don’t consider telling anyone about their departure because in this life, neither of them have anyone left around _to_  tell. They’re there one day and gone the next and neither even think this is odd. Later, laying in her bunk, Kendra suppresses a memory of packing up and leaving in so many lives before, falls asleep to fitful dreams of trans-pacific travel and cruiseliners.

 

[ … ]

 

Martin talks to Jefferson right after Rip Hunter leaves, only to have the younger man rebuff him. He leaves with frustration, plans already boiling in his head for lunch the next day, for how to convince his young colleague to come on this trip. It’s time travel! They can hardly say _no_  to such an adventure. 

Besides, the most important point that Jefferson is missing is that, again, _time travel_. They can return to the exact moment from which they left. Much the same as Mr. Allen had run through a wormhole then returned moments later, their own venture should be much the same.

For this reason, the first time around in January 2016, Martin rests that night completely comfortable in the anticipation of the journey and return, worried only about his ability to convince Jefferson and what extreme measures he might have to take to do it. Telling Clarissa, let alone anyone else, doesn’t cross his mind.

 

[ … ]

 

Jax wasn’t planning to go. The worst part of waking up on the Waverider is knowing his mom was waiting for him and he never showed up. They were supposed to have dinner, six o’clock, his aunt Louise’s place. He knows she’ll be so mad. But when that wears off, he knows she’ll be so _scared_.

Grey’s an old white dude who grew up before stranger danger was even a thing, let alone what’s happening in the 2010′s. He  _really_  doesn’t get why Jax’s mom’s gonna be beside herself. Jax tries not to hate Grey for that, for taking him away and not even leaving his mother a letter or a phone call, but it takes some time. While he calms down, he drafts the letter 20 times at least and asks Gideon if inter-time mail is a thing. It’s not. 

Well… time travel ain’t all bad, and he can’t be mad forever. He just wishes he got a chance to say goodbye and to explain.

 

[ … ]

 

Oliver is… _concerned_  about Ray and Sara. He wouldn’t say he’s worried, per se. But some guy shows up with a time ship and invites them to the future? He’s a little… 

“You’re worried, just say it,” his sister intones and he sighs.

“How did you know what I was thinking about?”

She looks at him like she’s ready to laugh and starts counting on her fingers: “the brooding, the mumbling Ray’s name and a curse three times in the past ten minutes, the staring off into space at the door Sara left through, the _brooding_ …”

“Alright, alright,” he holds up a hand to allay her. “Sorry.”

She shrugs, “if you’re so worried, why don’t you just check out this Hunter guy?”

“I can’t, he’s from the future.” That is, of course, half the issue. He really doesn’t know what to make of this alleged time-traveller. To listen to Ray, he’s a genius. To listen to Sara, he’s insane ‘but kinda cute if you count his accent’. That was said mostly to Laurel and Felicity; Oliver had felt the vein in his temple starting to go when she’d said it.

“So ask the Flash? You said he had that time travelling Reverse-yellow-guy, right?”

 

[ … ]

 

“Snart? And _Mick Rory_?!”

“Barry, I think you’re focusing on the wrong part of this–”

“Yeah, yeah, time traveller, time ship, bad future, Sara and Ray and Firestorm and the Hawks, got it – but he invited Captain Cold and Heatwave to be heroes? And they _said yes_?”

Oliver is ready to throw the phone. Barry’s easier to wrangle in in person; over a mobile he’s impossible to slow down once he gets focused on something. 

“Well I don’t actually know if they said yes. I guess the ship takes off first thing tomorrow.”

“Wow. I was _so right_  about him being one of the good guys!”

That catches his attention, “who, Snart? Barry, what?”

“At Christmas, he warned me Weather Wizard and Trickster were after me. I knew there’s good in him.”

“Do you have to name them– and just because he – never mind. Look, my questions are about time travel – ”

“Yeah yeah, don’t worry. Cisco and Ronnie made a time ship from Wellsobard’s designs, remember? It can absolutely be done. Not sure how they make the wormholes to jump back and forth, but if the guy is from the future, it makes sense he’d have the tech.”

“… so we’re not worried he’s an evil speedster?”

“I – well I – I don’t know! Didn’t you say he’s inviting them to save the world?”

“The last time traveller you met tried to kill you.”

“Well uh… I mean we can’t judge all time travellers on that, can we?”

Oliver sighs. “Thanks Barry, it’s a relief to know he’s probably telling the truth about time travel, at least. I’ll let Ray know what you said.”

“Right, cool. Keep me posted. If Snart becomes a hero, I wanna know about it.”

Oliver personally thinks it’s unlikely, but he tells Barry he will anyway.

 

[ … ]

 

Len leaves a message for his sister in the usual way to let her know he’ll be out of town for a bit and to lay low. They’re in between jobs anyway and she’s out of the city regardless, but he likes to be careful about these things. He doesn’t trust Rip Hunter for a second, no matter how tempting the man’s offer is.

Mick doesn’t bother to let anyone know he’s skipping town. All he does is pay up his tab at Saints ‘n Sinners and tip the girl behind the counter pretty well. Well, and he spends the night with his favorite girl, but he probably would’ve done that anyway. 

 

[ … ]

 

Caitlin gets a call from Clarissa two days after the Legends team leaves, stating that she hasn’t heard from Martin in a few days. She knows he leaves to Pittsburg with his Firestorm partner, “that nice young man Jefferson”, but normally he answers her calls, and he didn’t mention he was leaving town again. 

She’s mostly worried a pile of books fell on him or that he’s forgotten to eat and passed out in his lab again. It wouldn’t be the first time.

Caitlin’s a little more worried and puts it to Barry and Cisco that they should find him. Cisco’s immediately jumping up to grab his jacket, but Barry’s waving away the concern.

“He’s time travelling. What – didn’t I tell you guys?”

“He’s _what_?”

“No, no you did _not_  tell us!”

She calls Clarissa back and lets her know what’s what. Clarissa is less angry than Caitlin would have been, but maybe that many years of marriage mollifies a person. Or maybe she’s just a Saint. Both seem possible to Caitlin. But then, these days, with heroes and their enemies off time travelling and dimensional breaches with evil speedsters behind them, anything seems possible to Caitlin.

 

[ … ]

 

Things go awry on their journey. People get hurt. Jax is sent back to 2016 on the jump ship and wakes up the right age and not an old man (thank god), exhausted but with determination alight. His team’s in danger. There’s work to do.

He goes to where he last saw Grey that night, not even stopping for a burger on his way, and finds him exactly where he should. Grey’s talking to him, him from January, and Jax tries not to be too bitter about what he knows is about to go down. From this side of the time stream, he doesn’t have regrets anymore. This journey _matters_. And he’s gotta get back ASAP.

Grey is surprised and Jax revels in it before remembering the dude used to be even more of a dick, before some humbling. It’s not what matters right now though.

They work through the night. Jax doesn’t let slip anything about the future, half because he’s too focused to listen to Stein’s worrying.

But before he leaves, he pens a letter and an address out. “Get this in an envelop with that address on it, and drop it in the mail first thing before you leave town.”

“Jefferson?”

“It’s for my mom. If I called her right now she wouldn’t understand, and there’s no time. Do this for me, Grey.”

He must look tired, or maybe a little too intense, because Stein’s nodding and tucking it away and apologizing for something he hasn’t done yet but they both already know he will.

“I forgive you, eventually.”

 

[ … ]

 

Martin goes to bed for the second time around in January 2016 with his head full of _possibilities_. It’s amazing. Jefferson returned to this very night! 

He knows what he’s going to do to convince the younger man. He didn’t realize he’d been thinking it already, but it was a half-formed and nebulous thought in the back of his mind crystallizing away from the moment he invited Jefferson to drop by the university the next day. He didn’t want to admit it to himself then, but with Jefferson from the future coming by, he knows he did it, and so can admit he did it and _will_ do it, even though he hadn’t fully known he was even planning it.

The logic of that is absurd and he’s gleeful about it, if somber at the prospect of just what this journey might hold.

He writes a letter for Clarissa as well. He tells her his journey has to do with his sabbatical this semester from the University. She’ll understand the joke, he’s sure. He drops it off at the post office the next morning along with the one for Jefferson’s mother. If he and Jefferson return to this day in time, none will be the wiser and they can pluck those letters out of the mail when they arrive. If something should happen… it’s a clever back up plan to explain and say goodbye. He’ll have to give Jefferson his compliments on it. 

Or not? Because Jefferson won’t have known he’s done it, not the Jefferson that Martin is meeting later today for a drink.

Oh, time travel. He’s so excited again already, even with the gravity of risk.

 

[ … ]

 

The Waverider touches down in May 2016 in Star City to unload its passengers, sans Kendra and Carter, sans Leonard. None of them are happy about it, and they’re there for less than a week before they’re all back in the same spot looking for the Waverider to return.

The hours in 2016 feel long. 

Mick puts the word out for a job and picks the first punk to slide into his booth at S ‘n S. He shoves the cold gun into his hands and they’re off and away.

Sara is trying to deal with reality of her sister’s death. It doesn’t feel possible, it hardly feels real.

She should have been there. She should have been _here_.

Part of her wants to decompress but so much of her just wants to go. Laurel was the only part of Star City that felt like home anymore – after the League, but especially after the Lazarus Pit. Without her…

She just can’t be here anymore. But she can’t escape. She can’t move backward. She’s stuck. She goes to the site where the Waverider dropped them and waits, stares, hates, and cries. She’s there each day.

When the team shows up, she knows she’s not the only one who’s been feeling some of this. 

 

[ … ]

 

As soon as he was left in 2016, Ray feels almost like he’s been marooned again, even if it is the right year this time. Something is just _missing_. It’s just hard to put his finger on _what_. It doesn’t feel like home anymore, not like the Waverider did. And what he was doing there, fixing time, it feels like the calling he was supposed to have, not filling up this city with more heroes when Oliver doesn’t need him.

He hears about Laurel and it’s like a blow. He thinks about Snart, too, dying a hero’s death, and just how close he himself came to it. 

There’s nothing for him in 2016, not right now. But he suspects he’s not the only one feeling that way. 

Stein dodges his calls, Jax doesn’t answer, and Sara is a minefield of emotions.

But finding Mick is almost too easy. The unique temperature signature of his gun and Snart’s, especially combined, are fairly easy to trace by connecting into one of Ray’s own satellites. After that, Mick’s honestly easier to convince than Ray had expected, once they parked and talked. Not that he’s complaining, he’s glad to have his friend back. 

“We’re heading back?” Mick asks on the drive.

“That’s the plan!” Ray would tone down the chipper except he can’t. This feels _right_. That alone is something to feel good about.

“Gotta make a stop first.”

“Where to?”

“You ever meet Snart’s sister?”

Oh. Well then.

Mick’s been putting off the conversation, and not that Ray _blames_  him, but ripping off the bandaid would definitely be better in this case. If Ray’s radio beacon works, they’ll be gone by morning.

He doesn’t expect Mick to make him drive all the way up to Opal city and then back. Ray knows how to survive on energy drinks alone, though, and wouldn’t begrudge the man telling Lisa about her brother. Ray hangs back, awkward, and Snart’s sister is gorgeous when they meet. He wouldn’t believe they’re siblings at all except she’s immediately suspicious of him and yep, there’s the family resemblance.

But then Mick starts talking, in his own blunt and soft way at once, and Ray is biting his tongue to stop the impulse to interject and add details. The woman, Lisa, reacts mostly with shock, which is to be expected. She doesn’t cry but her eyes are wet and red and dark all at once, tired and she withdraws and tells them to leave.

Mick does. Ray wants to tell her that he’s sorry, wants to make Mick go back in and keep talking, tell her more, explain in detail, but he gets that no one has it in them right then for the whole story. 

So he gets back in the driver’s seat and heads toward Star City. Mick lets him chat the whole drive to fill the quiet space, something he needs to do, and Ray is careful not to mention Lisa or Snart the entire time.

 

[ … ]

 

Jax gets a _very_  stern talking to from his mother when he first gets home, followed by a shower of hugs and some tears thrown in the mix as well.

He definitely deserves all of it and there might be some tears on his own end.

His letter told her he was off saving the world, he didn’t want to lie, and now… now he has to explain the Firestorm thing. He was sorta not bringing up being a metahuman before, what with it being crazy scary and his ma thinking that him being a mechanic was a dangerous job (and considering the amount of guys he knows who’re missing a finger or a larger limb, it _can_  be). 

Turns out, she’s halfway happy he didn’t just up and join a cult. “They prey on kids like you. And your letter had me so worried! You said if I didn’t hear from you that you were probably dead! ”

“I know, Ma. And I swear, it’s _not_  a cult. Saw a cult though, those people are messed up.”

She’s laughing and almost crying and still probably spitting mad but she makes the best dinner he could ask for (especially after the Waverider) and tells him his father would be so proud.

His feelings catch in his throat. He debates not telling her, but she knows what he’s been up to – almost didn’t believe he was travelling time but he had some photos on his phone as proof, as well as some other bits of evidence. So he starts, a little stunted, explaining the Pilgrim and then saying they went back to the day he was born.

She gets it, and he doesn’t need to say more for a few minutes, both of them with tears in their eyes. 

“He was a great guy,” Jax says at last, and her face blossoms into a smile that is too fond and sad.

“The greatest.”

That’s when he realizes he can’t stay here, in this time. There’s so much more work to be done. They can’t just leave it at that, with Kendra kidnapped and Vandal Savage roaming free. It can’t end like that. He won’t let it. 

He wants to be someone that _he_  can be proud of too, not just his folks. He’s proud of what he’s done so far, but he has to see it through. 

He calls up Grey, and this time, he says bye to his mom. He doesn’t give her all the details, but he lets her know his journey ain’t over, and that he might be gone a while longer.

 

[ … ]

 

Martin remembers almost belatedly that he’d left a letter for Clarissa in the mail. He’s expecting her anger and worry and comes home to her tidying house and relaxing with a book on the couch. 

“Oh you’re back?” she says with a smile and at his confused expression, his babbled apologies over the time, she shakes her head. “Martin, dear, I got your letter. A few days late, mind you, and not until I worried Caitlin to death, I’m sure.”

“Great scot–the Flash! I didn’t tell any of them!” his hand is on his forehead, realizing just how deep his oversight really was.

“Caitlin already knew, dear? Something about the Green Arrow telling the Flash telling her about you going off to time travel?”

He laughs a bit because it’s absurd. “What a grapevine.”

“I won’t pretend to understand how you keep up with so many young friends and their very confusing lives.”

She’s right, of course, and he’s exhausted, but, “Jefferson, admittedly, does most of the heavy lifting.”

She’s surprised he’s passing on the credit, he can see it on her face, but the cost of learning humility was high, and he doesn’t want to talk about it. They play trivial pursuit and he places a call to Caitlin to let her know he’s back and not to worry. She demands he come by soon for a checkup, along with Jax, and to share their stories. He resolves to do just that but doesn’t miss the note of pain in her own voice. He’s better at noticing that sort of thing, he thinks, than maybe he once was. He suspects she has stories as well. 

The last he can recall, there were speedsters from other dimensions terrorizing this city. He gets an abridged update from Clarissa but knows much more must have happened. He almost thinks to inquire, to offer Firestorm’s help, but Jefferson calls him and reminds him that their own work is unfinished.

He’s right, of course. Martin is learning that Jefferson is _often_  right.

He supposes he can get used to that.

 

[ … ]

 

“You heard from Dr. Stein?” Barry asks Caitlin, surprised she’s trying to place a call to him and is frustrated by the lack of answer. “Isn’t he off time travelling?”

“He was back a few days ago,” she frowns at the phone.

“Firestorm was back!” Cisco’s head snaps to attention. “You think they could’ve helped with the, uh, metahuman army that came down on Central?”

Caitlin waves him away, already dialing Clarissa. “He just got back two days ago.”

Clarissa tells Caitlin he’s gone again. “He didn’t even come in for a check up!”

She gets a little huffy when Barry and Cisco snicker, and then tired when Wally asks who Stein is. Who even knows where to start with that explanation.

“He’s a nuclear half-a-metahuman off time-travelling with Captain Cold, Heatwave, and some heroes from Star City,” Cisco grins, saving her from responding. 

Wally demands details. She’s just glad Joe’s already left for the day or else he’d probably be frowning at how excited Cisco and Barry are to talk about the Rogues.

 

[ … ]

 

The next time the Waverider touches down, it’s just for a single day. This time Kendra and Carter are with them, and things don’t feel so unfinished. But also this time, they get an invitation to return, if they want it.

Martin wants to say yes, but he can’t. He’d never push Jefferson into that decision again. He has responsibilities, his research, his wife. He pulls out trivial pursuit and attempts to resign himself to returning to pseudo-normalcy, telling himself he’ll phone Dr. Snow in the morning, finally.

But then Clarissa is telling him he needs to leave again. His despondency must be deeper than he’d realized, his distraction. He wishes he could explain to her why he can’t, but then Jefferson is there, and it seems she knows enough already.

His relief at Jefferson’s insistence that they go on this venture is almost overwhelming, and it fills him alongside a surge of pride. He knows he has no room to claim responsibility for any of who Jefferson has become – a brave, bold, kind young man – but he feels pride in it nonetheless. 

And then there is excitement. A new adventure.

 

[ … ]

 

Sara takes the day to visit her sister’s grave. The finality of it is more painful than she knew it could be. And she thinks of the Lazarus Pit, finally understanding how and why Laurel could do what she did. If it were still intact, she would be halfway there with Laurel’s body already.

Her sister.

There’s nothing left for her in 2016. No Laurel, no future with Nyssa (she knows this, she laments this, she accepts this), no place on the team that Oliver is growing, increasingly full of people she doesn’t know, barely ever knew.

Her place is on the Waverider. And maybe, if she’s lucky, she’ll end up in the past decade sometime, and come across her sister, and get to hold her tight one more time or two.

 

[ … ]

 

Kendra and Carter stretch their legs and relax with some food, making plans to head to Midway City next. They won’t be staying here, but they won’t be going with the Waverider either. It’s time to move forward, and for them, that means finally having the choice to stay in one place, no shadow over their shoulder, no packing up in the middle of the night and leaving. No more cross-ocean and cross-time voyages.

Finally, they have a true fresh start.

 

[ … ]

 

Mick doesn’t step off the Waverider with the rest of them. He already knows he’s going to say yes to Rip, because he knows there’s nothing for him here. Haircut is staying too, and it’s enough for him. Prettyboy even stays on the ship along with him. Maybe he has no one to say goodbye to either, not really. Mick knows he never did. 

Rip finds him in his bunk and makes a suggestion for where else they might spend some time that evening. Mick’s heart hammers in his chest, but he nods, tight.

He doesn’t like words like ‘closure’ and ‘grief’ or even words like ‘friend’ most of the time. Those words are loaded. But 2016 has nothing for him, but 2013 might.

They were on the outs, that year. The botched job, Mick’s escape from that ambulance. He picked it because he knew he wouldn’t have to worry about running into himself if he called up Snart. He might’ve picked it because he half-expected Snart not to show. But that would be too easy.

He’s alive, and whole, and a bastard, and Mick misses his ugly (pretty) mug so much.

He’s awful at feelings, he knows. They don’t talk about their feelings, never did, never needed to. He never really thought there would be real goodbyes to say.

He’s botching the whole thing. All he can see is the punk kid from juvie with his back up and a chip on his shoulder. All he can see is the friend who sacrificed his life for Mick. It’s disarming. He’s out of there fast, but he has to try and push the words out. Snart probably thinks Mick’s the one dying with how it all comes out, how out of the blue it is, but he’s okay with that. 

It was, more than anything, an apology. He doesn’t say sorry, but that’s what it was. 

He’s fine. 

He’s fine.

He’s – Maybe if he keeps saying it, it’ll become true.

 

[ … ]

 

Oliver is really tired of time travel. Just, as a concept. As a thing. As anything. 

Sara and Ray coming and going and coming and then leaving again. Some historian barging down his door and then dragging him underwater on a ridiculous journey, Mick Rory being there.

He’s _the mayor._ He has things to do!

He puts up with all of this with a long-suffering sigh, listens ~~patiently~~ to Rory explain all his pals are lost across history, then high-tails it out of there. So long as Rory and the historian find Sara and Ray in one piece, he has other priorities.

It doesn’t occur to him to give Barry or anyone else an update on the situation. Nothing’s changed, really, except that his work week was interrupted and he had to take an impromptu trip. He gave Felicity and the team enough details to know he’d be out of town for a day and answered enough questions to let them know it wasn’t a big deal. Only Felicity had any stomach for the time travel bullshit they dealt with anyway. Something about Barry changing all of existence? Oliver _really_  didn’t want to know. Digg had nope’d out of the conversation when she brought it up.

Some things are better left unknown and unsaid. So Oliver just gets back to work.

 

[ … ]

 

Two metahumans, Mirror Master and the Top, show up in Central and start making a scene. Barry laughs at the idea that they’ll find Snart, knowing he’s off with Firestorm and the rest of them. Well, he’s pretty sure, anyway. He knows Stein came back for all of, what, a day? But there’s been no sightings of Snart or Rory again so he’s pretty sure both men are still with the other time travellers. He got a post card from Midway City from Kendra and Carter that was all smiles and an invitation for Team Flash to visit, but that’s the most he’s heard from any of them, personally.

He kind of misses Snart, but he’s not going to tell anyone that. The city’s a little less fun without him stirring up trouble in his particularly dramatic way. Not that Barry doesn’t have enough on his plate, but facing off with Scudder and Dillon almost reminds him of those days, and the hologram!Snart was too much fun to do. He hopes he can show it to the real Snart whenever he gets tired of time travelling.

**Author's Note:**

> Wasn't gonna post this one to the archive, since I wrote it for [my tumblr](http://coldtomyflash.tumblr.com/) and normally just leave tumblr writing in [its own tag](http://coldtomyflash.tumblr.com/tagged/tumblr%20drabbles), but I also feel like AO3 can always use more gen fic.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Hello, Goodbye (or “how everyone fails to explain that they’re going time travelling”) [podfic]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13209021) by [litrapod (litra)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/litra/pseuds/litrapod)




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